Dylan
Yesterdays visit really put things into perspective for me. Riggs wasn't my friend. He didn't believe me and neither did the doctor.
Fuck them both. That little girl, stabbed me.
Riggs came by and told me they were leaving for the mission in about, well now 15 minutes. Thats why Im in my uniform and waiting for an opening to get into one of the rovers. Avery and Riggs were going to be in the first 2 with about 5 other guys.
The rest were just filled with other soldiers.
Once Riggs and Avery were gone, I made my move to get into the Rover at the back of the line. I Rushed into the passenger seat that was usually empty for hazardous reasons.
"Think you're in the wrong rover, Private." A solider i have become familiar with greets me with a warm smile.
"Sam. Im glad I picked this one." I laughed.
Sam was super sweet and turns out we grew up in the same town.
He was also super handsome. He had curly brown hair and gorgeous brown eyes. His skin was tanned to perfection and his body wasn't half bad.
As we continued our journey to Baghdad, Sam and I talked. Apparently no one knew I had surgery or been stabbed. I kept it from Sam as well and lied about where I was the last 2 days.
I started getting hot about halfway there. Figured it was just my wound healing.
"Hey Dylan?" Sam sounded like a boy when he said my name.
"Yeah Sam?" I smiled and shifted to face him.
He stutter his words a little as his face got red, "Nothing. We're here." He smiled and turned off the rover.
As we climbed out of the car, I felt the anxiety in my stomach start to boil. I was going to be yelled at and possibly discharged for disobeying orders.
Sam must have noticed my discomfort as we prepared our equipment.
"What's going on with you, D?" Sam asked as he loaded his assault rifle.
"Can I be honest with you without you freaking out?" I stopped loading my bag and turned to face him.
"Of course." Sam put his weapon down and gave me all of his attention.
"I may or may not have been in the clinic the last 2 days." I mumbled.
"Are you okay?" Sam caught me off guard with that.
"Im alright." I nodded.
"Okay good," Sam took a deep breathe,"Now what the fuck is wrong with you? What happened?"
I chuckled a little.
"A girl from the town caught me off guard with a box cutter." I shrugged and lifted the hem of my shirt up, revealing the wound.
"You shouldn't have came, Dylan." Sam shook his head and touched the areas around the tender skin.
"I can't be discharged." I shook my head and covered the sore wound with my shirt.
"You won't be discharged for everything. Especially not this. Plus you basically run the show here. They'd be crazy to discharge you." Sam smiled and everything felt better.
"Lock it up fellas! We have a 10 mile walk before we set up camp." I heard Avery yelling from the front of the line.
"Let me carry your bag for you." Sam went to grab my bag but I snatched it up.
"No sir, my bag. My duty. Now lets get going." I smiled and we followed behind the group of men.
The bag got heavier and heavier as we continued the walk. I also got sleepier. My side was so sore and burned.
"Please let me take the bag, Dylan." Sam held out his open hand and I quickly accepted.
"Thanks Sammie." I winked. He hated the nickname Avery gave him.
We eventually made it to camp. Sam set up our tents while I found a close stream to wash my wound in.
I took a handful of water and washed my hands. Then I took one of my clean socks and made it into a rag. I sank it underwater until it was completely soaked then began cleaning the wound.
it stung. A lot. I prayed the water wouldn't infect it.
After a good 15 minutes of cleaning, I hopped to my feet and began walking back to the camp.
"Dylan?" I looked up from the ground where my eyes were trained. I watch the ground for any tracks and to make sure I wouldn't trip or step in a trap.
It was Avery. Just my luck.
"Oh hey Avery," I chuckled and scratched the bag of my neck, "Fancy meeting you here. Visiting family?" I asked sweetly.
"What the hell are you doing here? You weren't cleared nor are you ready." Avery stepped closer to me, I swear I could see steam spraying from his ears.
"Im fine. Amazing actually." I held up my hands in defense.
"We will talk about this and your future with the Army when we return home." Avery glared at me one last time before he turned back towards the camp. I followed silently.
When we got back, Riggs spotted me. His face contorting with anger. Riggs stormed over to me, taking my hand and dragging me towards the forest.
"Riggs, Slow down." He of course, ignored me until we were deep into the forest.
"Why," He turned and backed me up into a nearby tree,"Are you here?" His husky voice sending a shiver down my spine.
"Why does it matter?" I asked back. He hadn't even asked if I was okay.
"Because you're not fully recovered yet." Riggs tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"How do you know? You haven't even asked how im feeling." I crossed my arms.
"I don't need to. You're strong. If you weren't okay you wouldn't be here, disobeying orders." Riggs pulled my arms down.
"I can't miss out on my first mission, Riggs." I dropped my arms into his grip.
"If it was up to me, you wouldn't be in any missions." He mumbled.
"Excuse me?" I asked, a bit surprised.
How dare he? I pushed his arms off of me and turned to leave.
"Dylan, Don't take it like that!" Riggs called out to me.
I stopped and turned to him, "How should I take it, asshole?" I through up my arms and left back to camp.
I wanted to cry. The mental and physical pain was too much right now. I ignored Sam's calls to me and climbed into my tent.
------
I awoke early the next morning, I wanted to go for a walk to get my stamina back up before we were to arrive at the enemy camp in 7 hours.
I had a hard time tying my boots and getting off of the ground. I winced and groaned from the amount of pain that surged through my body.
I eventually made it outside and half way through the forest before something grabbed me from behind. I attempted a scream but my mouth was covered and my hands bounded tightly to my side.
"Dylan." Riggs' husky voice sounded from behind me. He dropped the hand that was blocking my mouth.
"Riggs, You are a fucking asshole!" I whisper yelled.
"I didn't mean to offend you yesterday." Riggs' usual voice was soft and compassionate.
"Its okay. I understand." I nodded slowly.
"You do?" Riggs never loosened his hold on me or allowed me to leave the warm embrace I was in.
"You don't want a shitty soldier on your squad." I shrugged.
Riggs let out a groan.
"It's okay, I get it." I said, trying not to sound hurt.
"Dylan, that's not it. You're an amazi-"
"Then What is it, Riggs? Enlighten me." I cut him off, feeling frustrated.
"It's complicated, okay?" Riggs let me go and dropped his Head into his hands.
"Whatever Riggs. I'm over this hot and cold bullshit." I huffed and turned away from him.
Without saying another word, I began walking back to the camp. He needed to figure it out.
When I arrived, my tent and bags had already been packed up and Sam was standing next to them.
"Good Morning sunshine. Early run?" Sam smiled at me.
"Hardly." I laughed and accepted a cup of coffee from him.
"You have some color back." He brushed a finger along my cheek.
I was definitely red.
Clearing my throat, I look around.
"Where's everyone at?" The whole camp look deserted. Actually you probably couldn't tell a camp was here not too long ago.
"They started heading towards the camp. We should probably get going too." Sam smiled and picked up both backpacks and we made our way up the mountain.
It wasn't a far walk now and honestly if it was it'd be refreshing. I was so mad at Riggs right now, I needed fresh air.
"You might wanna unball your hands, You might lose circulation." Sam winked and nodded at my currently red hands.
I pride my fingers open and took a deep breath.
"What's goin' on D?" Sam nudged me.
I ended up spilling everything about Riggs. Sam seemed to be pissed by the end. Glad he understood.
When we stopped to go over our game plan, Sam spotted Riggs and headed over.